Hi All,
I've about 600 images on alamy and I've received 2986 views - 6 zoom but never got any sale, Is it still keywords fault or just the Alamy slow sales?

Thanks!

Could be anything: Alamy's customers don't always buy the sorts of images you can get cheaper on the micros, they are slow sellers (I had over 800 before I got my first sale) or it could be your keywords, or any number of other reasons; but where's your port so we can check?

You can check the images on my SS portfolio link below.

... I've received 2986 views - 6 zoom but never got any sale ...

That means your images appeared 2986x in search results but only 6x customers actually clicked on one of your images... so it�s really only 6 "views"...

I would try to review a bit your keywords...

Not sure how to give you the link to my alamy port but you can go through my fotolia portfolio, the keywords are all same.

Amabu is correct: you only have six zooms, which might hint that your keywording isn't all that accurate. Your views only mean your file showed up in a search.

The other thing you can do is look at 'your images' under Alamy Measures to see what search term your image was searched under.
That will let you know whether your keywords are way off.

That said, the way Alamy's search works combines any keywords in any field - including the caption -, so can give totally wrong keyword phrase results, which you can't really do anything about. (For example, I get views on 'wild n wet' because I have pics of wild animals in a  wallow, so 'wild' and 'wet' are both appropriate keywords.)  Another example is one of my pics showing up in a search for "1960s night", which I assume was someone looking for pictures of fancy dress parties/club nights on a Sixties theme, but my pic was a night shot of a building noted as a particular example of 1960s architecture, so I noted that in the caption (1960/1960s is NOT in the keywords of that file)

Still, it's definitely worth checking whether the keywords your files were checked on are really representative of your file.

I'm new to Alamy and it's interesting what you say.

If you submit some images only to Alamy not to the micros because of what you said, it's sort of exclusive images at Alamy or where do you submit these images additionally if not to micros?

0 sales on Alamy is actually well above average.

Tedious, time consuming keywording of each file to get no sales. 

Every agency requires you to keyword it goes with the job

Yes but all keywords in one box. Alamy require sub keywording = more time.

I had around 250 images when I got my first small sale on Alamy, I was very excited and thought it was the start but I haven't had one since. The sale was back in August and I've been contributing since March. I now have 400 images, 10 zooms and 1700 views. The image that sold is not available on SS or FT so that might be why I got lucky. Maybe my other zooms led to a sale on one of the micros. I am now trying to upload images only to Alamy. I think I also need to review my keywords on Alamy.

Alamy is all about editorial content. The creative material is just completely drowned by editorial. To make it even tougher the sort order will mix editorial with creative content. Many say that for every 1000 files you get one sale?

Many say the end of the world is coming too but you'd be better not to believe them.

I have over 3,000 images on Alamy and get sales every month.  My sales with them doubled this year compared to last year.

I have 60% RF and 40% RM, the microstock stuff sells better than the RM stuff.

It's all about good keywords and image quality nothing else.

Alamy is all about editorial content. The creative material is just completely drowned by editorial. To make it even tougher the sort order will mix editorial with creative content. Many say that for every 1000 files you get one sale?

What? 

Do a search for "coffee" see lots and lots of editorial do you?

. To make it even tougher the sort order will mix editorial with creative content.

Like most agencies, unless you choose to use filters

Many say that for every 1000 files you get one sale?

Per day? Per month? Per year?
Many?
Someone posted on the October sales thread that they'd got a sale with a port of <50. It's just if you happen to have what a buyer needs. Generally different buyers from micro. My best selling genre on iS doesn't sell at all (for me) on Alamy (different images, obviously), which is a great pity.

I hate their time consuming 3 tier keywording because I know that however many images I upload, it makes no difference as I still get zero sales.

I'm sorry if I'm too direct, but if you get no sales no matter how many images you upload, then something is wrong on your side.

Maybe your keywording isn't accurate, or your images are just not what sells on Alamy (probably mainly editorial, not stocky looking concepts/creative). Or your postprocessing might not be up to par. Post a link to your portfolio and I'm sure people here will give you constructive feedback why you don't have sales yet.

My portfolio on Alamy is quite small; a bit more than 1000 images. My CTR (zooms vs views) is consistently above 1%, and I make regular sales (4 in the last 30 days).

quote disappeared

Quote from: ShadySue on November 08, 2016, 06:51

Quote

Many say that for every 1000 files you get one sale?

Per day? Per month? Per year?
Many?
Someone posted on the October sales thread that they'd got a sale with a port of <50. It's just if you happen to have what a buyer needs. Generally different buyers from micro. My best selling genre on iS doesn't sell at all (for me) on Alamy (different images, obviously), which is a great pity.

The consensus on the Alamy forums is that, on average, people there get one sale per month per 1000 images. Some do better, some do worse. Just like comparing yourself to the averages in the poll here. I average more than one sale per month per 1000 images. Sorry I wasn't clear before.

Surprisingly, sales from my small portfolio are in rough agreement with that figure.   And I had to stop and reflect on this for a minute because producing 1,000 quality stock photos is a huge amount of work - unless they're dead simple, no-brainer shots.  And the return you can expect on that work is pitiful, even from an honest agency like Alamy. 

Quote from: wordplanet on November 12, 2016, 13:52

Quote from: ShadySue on November 08, 2016, 06:51

Quote

Many say that for every 1000 files you get one sale?

Per day? Per month? Per year?
Many?
Someone posted on the October sales thread that they'd got a sale with a port of <50. It's just if you happen to have what a buyer needs. Generally different buyers from micro. My best selling genre on iS doesn't sell at all (for me) on Alamy (different images, obviously), which is a great pity.

The consensus on the Alamy forums is that, on average, people there get one sale per month per 1000 images. Some do better, some do worse. Just like comparing yourself to the averages in the poll here. I average more than one sale per month per 1000 images. Sorry I wasn't clear before.

Surprisingly, sales from my small portfolio are in rough agreement with that figure.   And I had to stop and reflect on this for a minute because producing 1,000 quality stock photos is a huge amount of work - unless they're dead simple, no-brainer shots.  And the return you can expect on that work is pitiful, even from an honest agency like Alamy.

Right and that's why people who quote downloads per thousand are not using their brains. No-brainer shots, no download shots and no number for downloads per unknown photos or 1000 common ordinary shots. There is no expected download per shot number when we are all different and so are our photos. Why do people insist on making up these statitistics with no value or meaning and promoting them?

I don't get 1 sale per month for each 1000 photos. Some people will get many more, if they have better pictures. Anything micro has never sold for me on Alamy. I think buyers are smart enough to search for a $10 download instead of $48 download for the same picture?

Yes, $20 is average now for a download on Alamy. And better words first that match the photo subject exact will get better sales. Views for a mismatch don't mean any sales ever.

Quote from: stockastic on November 12, 2016, 16:49

Quote from: wordplanet on November 12, 2016, 13:52

Quote from: ShadySue on November 08, 2016, 06:51

Quote

Many say that for every 1000 files you get one sale?

Per day? Per month? Per year?
Many?
Someone posted on the October sales thread that they'd got a sale with a port of <50. It's just if you happen to have what a buyer needs. Generally different buyers from micro. My best selling genre on iS doesn't sell at all (for me) on Alamy (different images, obviously), which is a great pity.

The consensus on the Alamy forums is that, on average, people there get one sale per month per 1000 images. Some do better, some do worse. Just like comparing yourself to the averages in the poll here. I average more than one sale per month per 1000 images. Sorry I wasn't clear before.

Surprisingly, sales from my small portfolio are in rough agreement with that figure.   And I had to stop and reflect on this for a minute because producing 1,000 quality stock photos is a huge amount of work - unless they're dead simple, no-brainer shots.  And the return you can expect on that work is pitiful, even from an honest agency like Alamy.

Right and that's why people who quote downloads per thousand are not using their brains. No-brainer shots, no download shots and no number for downloads per unknown photos or 1000 common ordinary shots. There is no expected download per shot number when we are all different and so are our photos. Why do people insist on making up these statitistics with no value or meaning and promoting them?

I don't get 1 sale per month for each 1000 photos. Some people will get many more, if they have better pictures. Anything micro has never sold for me on Alamy. I think buyers are smart enough to search for a $10 download instead of $48 download for the same picture?

Yes, $20 is average now for a download on Alamy. And better words first that match the photo subject exact will get better sales. Views for a mismatch don't mean any sales ever.

I don't agree with your general objection that "1 sale per month per 1000 pictures" is a figure without value. For sure it is true that some people will have more and some will have less. Don't read "1 sale per 1000" as "1.00". It could easily be double or half that figure. The main benefit of this 1 per 1000 statement is that it shows newbies what they can expect. The forum is full of newbies who complain that they have no sales with a portfolio of 100 pictures.

Also, on a further note, your absolute statement that "$20 is average now on Alamy" is on the same level as "1 sale per 1000 images per month". How can you condemn one and promote another? The average sale price is depending on many factors, including if a contributor signed up for the UK newspaper deal (with very low payout rates), and of course, to which market their pictures appeal.


I don't believe this theory that pictures which are on micros don't sell on Alamy. Don't get me wrong, I don't like the microstock concept, and I'm not submitting to any such agency. But I repeatedly sell licenses for absolutely trivial images (e.g., banknotes) for three digit values on Alamy, although essentially the same images are available on micros. Apparently, not all customers compare prices.

"Micro images don't sell on Alamy"

Although this gets said a lot, I've never seen a single example to illustrate this theory. My best sellers on Alamy are just as popular on the micros. Alamy sells as good as the column to the right of these words would indicate. Less sales, albeit higher priced, but averages out to right around 123RF and Dreamstime overall. Shutterstock, Fotolia, even Pond5 eat Alamy for breakfast. I barely make enough to justify the tedious keywording system.

"Micro images don't sell on Alamy"

Although this gets said a lot, I've never seen a single example to illustrate this theory. My best sellers on Alamy are just as popular on the micros. Alamy sells as good as the column to the right of these words would indicate. Less sales, albeit higher priced, but averages out to right around 123RF and Dreamstime overall. Shutterstock, Fotolia, even Pond5 eat Alamy for breakfast. I barely make enough to justify the tedious keywording system.

You left off my word, MY micro don't sell as well on Alamy. My point remains the same. Individual not by forum pundits experience. We all have different photos and subjects. Counting numbers for different pictures makes no sense. "how many photos do I need to make $100?" who knows? What are the photos? No way to know how many sales per 1000 if we don't know whaat the photos are!

What subjects and styles sells better on Alamy then Micro, that's the question.

I like Alamy, one $20 sale is 71 subs on some place. It's like sharpshot says, worth the time and effort to make good keywords.

I'll use my case as as example.

I've been submitting to Alamy for just over a year...

currently: 1405 images
Total views: 7601
Total zooms: 32
Total CTR: 0.42

I didn't have any downloads for the first 6 months, however past 6 months came 8 in a flurry. 7/8 have been heavily commissioned due to the "distribution commission". However, my latest sale was $118.74 and 50% commission to me. That's a lot of subs.

I don't know who came up with that 1,000 portfolio for 1 sale a month rule of thumb. I rather have a portfolio with 100 premium images than 1,000 mediocre images.

What did I change?
- The stuff that goes on Alamy should be different than other microstuff since most buyers are smart enough to shop around (which many people have stated here but should be repeated)
- I've decided to start submitting most of my editorial from micros to Alamy RM. I'll likely leave them there for a year or so and if there are no sales, switch them to RF editorial (when it's rolled out) and also submit them at SS.
- There's the keywords difference but I don't know so much about that. I do try harder with more accurate captions since they also contribute to keywords.

So, how long does it take for sale to be reported after image has been zoomed (and downloaded). I know from my experience, that it usually takes 3 months between zoom and reported sale, sometimes less. I found one of my images here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/slovenia/articles/slovenia-restaurants/

Article is from 5th of October, image was zoomed about 2 days earlier, but no sale has been reported yet.
And also, what commission can I expect from that kind of usage:)?

It really varies a lot from one customer (and type of contract they have) to another. I have contacted support in the past when I found a usage for an image online but there was nothing showing for a sale at Alamy. They replied "We�ve a relevant download for your image CTxxxx from (customer name).
 
A delay in reporting usages is perfectly normal. Some of our customers take up to 3 months to report usages. If you don�t see the sale appear in your account within this timeframe then please get back to us. We�ll then check this against the customers downloads and invoice it."

And the amount of the sale isn't predictable unless you know the terms of the contract that applies.

Thanks for replies. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. I sold photo for The guardian, and was on top of the article and full-screen, if you clicked on it, and I got 7$ gross. Anyway, I'll wait abouth another month or so and then ask support about it.